After having a collection of 11 working tanks about five years ago, I'm down to just one 125. I have several other hobbies. So I've more or less neglected the 125. I've recently given it a thorough cleaning and it looks great and my fish are happy. I have 10 silver dollars, @20 serpae tetras, and @20 giant danios. After visiting a friend who has a marine tank, I found a renewed interest in my own aquarium. The substrate in the tank is a mix of coarse sand, gravel, and laterite from when I used to keep plants. After seeing a tank at my LFS, I seriously want to change to Tahitian moon. As well as paint the back black. I have some spare tanks left over. A 20g, a few 10s, and a 5g hospital. I thought I still had a 30g, but I must have sold it, not sure. When I start digging in the garage for the others, I hope to find it yet. I'll have to set up a few tanks to "store" the fish in until I can Paint the back. I'm going through Petsmart for the sand because they've just had a sale on it. However, they don't keep but two bags in stock at any one time. So I had to work with the manager to find me some more, and get a raincheck on the sale. I hope to have the stock tanks up and running with cycled water and filters, and all the sand washed before I'm ready to paint. It's a lot of work, but y'all know it's worth it.
I was thinking that if I did find the 30g, I may want to set it up as a permanent tank. But I'm not sure. I'm afraid that it may spawn another manic episode and I'll be back up to 11 tanks! HAHA What do y'all think?

I dont think anyone can answer which is better 125g,30g or 11 tanks.

Its up to you . If you dont want to keep that many fish/or you need space,you can change it to 30g.

You got to work it out yourself.

I'm keeping the 125. That's the one I'm giving the makeover. The 30g would be in addition to the 125.

As sondre said it is up to you if you think you can take care of your new fish go for it. But also remember to do some research before getting fish cause you donèt want any fin nippers terroising everyone else.

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Ha Ha Ha, Ha Ha Ha, Haaa...
I don`t get it

Yes, very true. I'm notorious for studying up on stuff that interests me. That's why the only fish I'd have in the new tank would be two or three pairs of dwarf gourami.

i would give the 125 a overhaul and also setup the 30 if it was me

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What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?

I would set all eleven up,hahahaha!

I have four setup right now so Im on my way.

It think the added 30 would be good to give you another setup.Personally all four of mine are about species maintenance but they are all setup a little different.Ones even a riparium in the works.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

I have OCD so I would have to agree with the 11 tanks lol Maybe that is why I have 1 upstairs and 9 breeding tanks in the basement ;)

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55 Gal Planted Community Tank
50 Gal Sand Planted Bronze Cory Tank
20 Gal Planted RCS Tank
20 Gal PlantTank "Beaslbob"
20 Gal Planted RCS Tank
20 Gal Platy Breeding Tank
15 Gal Electric Blue Crayfish Breeding Tank
15 Gal Platy Breeding Tank
(3) 15 Gal Planted RCS Tanks
10 Gal Planted Golden Mystery Snail Breeding Tank
10 Gal Planted RCS Tank
10 Gal Swordtail Tank
10 Gal Endler Tank
5 Gal RCS Display Tank
4 15 Gal RCS Tanks (Waiting to stock)
2 20 Gal Longs (Waiting to stock)

It was really fun having all those tanks. But it was a lot of work too. I've had this particular tank (the 125) set up for over a year with the same fish in it. I've had the silver dollars for longer than that. I suppose after a year with the same set up i've gotten a bit bored. It would be nice to have another one to keep things a bit new. Tomorrow I'll be picking up my sand and scouring the garage for the tanks. Both the 20g and the 30g are tall display tanks. Does anyone think that would rule out the possibility of a planted tank?
I will post some questions about the tanks size and lighting issues in the planted tank forum.

I think tall planted tanks are very neat looking.Things like amazon sword plants would do well in them as they get really tall.Lighting will have to be custom most likely though.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

i like the tall tanks as well, like bev said there good for swords since they can get tall, plus with tall tanks it looks like a picture instead of having it spred out for 2-3 foot lenght

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What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?

Consider turning 1-2 of your smaller tanks into a sump for the 125....

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

Sumps are just for bio filtration correct? It would involve pumping water out of the tank. We've already had an overflow incident with a HOB. Makes me quite paranoid. Once in awhile we'll go camping for the weekend. I could imagine coming home to a pool in the den, and flopping fish in the tank.

Sumps, from what I understand, operate this way:

1. Overflow - as water is pumped into the tank, it "overflows" into a compartment, either an HOB overflow or a bulkhead, from whence it is siphoned down into the sump.

2. Sump - water moves from the compartment where it is siphoned into into the next few compartments (can be one, can be many). Like the siphon, gravity does this work as well.

3. Return pump - water is pumped from the last compartment back up into the tank.

Now here's the catch...

1. Breaking the siphon. If the return pump fails, the overflow clogs, or the siphon line blocks up, the siphon action of both the inlet and return must be broken, otherwise the tank will empty into the sump. Several members use pinholes in the lines just under the surface of the water in the tank. Others will leave the return line outlet above the level of the tank, in conjunction with a pinhole in the inlet.

2. Water level. You want a water level in the tank and sump such that if the inlet of the sump clogs and the sump runs dry, it's not going to overflow your tank, which is almost exclusively what the overflow is good for (though, it may burn the pump up unless you have a float gauge). You also want the water level in the sump such that if the pump fails the sump won't overflow before the siphon action of the inlet and return are broken.

Hope this helps clarify what sumps are great for. They can be used just like GIANT filters - you can put bio media, carbon, even live plants and/or algae in the sump, along with breeding/hospital/refugium compartments to isolate sick fish and the like. You can also incorporate things like in-line heaters, in-line CO2 reactors, and lily pipes on the inlet and return to make the tank hardware-free and much more aesthetic.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

You should google refugiums

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